Satan Lies

The importance of lies to Satan can’t be overstated. It’s not just a method he uses to build his kingdom but a reflection of a core defect in his nature: He is incapable of telling the truth.

Jesus was speaking to some Jews in Jerusalem who were seeking to kill him. He told them that they couldn’t accept His word because they were like their father, Satan:

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Jesus revealed the primary method Satan uses to pursue his goal of being like God: he lies. Other descriptions of Satan as crafty,¹ a deceiver,² a tempter,³ and one who disguises himself as an angel of light,⁴ describe some of the ways he plans and delivers his lies to have the maximum effect on his targets.

Since Satan can’t lie to his true enemy, God, he attacks God and God’s kingdom, and builds up his own kingdom by targeting mankind. He lies to both the saved and the lost. He lies to the saved in an attempt to neutralize them as agents of God and, if possible, to use them as unwitting agents to advance his own kingdom. He lies to the lost to keep them in his own kingdom and to use them as agents to build up his kingdom.

Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth reveals false teachers as one way Satan delivers lies. Since the beginning of the church there have been false teachers, those who distort the gospel, leading the saved away from the truth and keeping the lost from knowing the truth. In the earliest days of the church some false teachers presented themselves as “apostles,” a term properly reserved for Jesus’ eleven disciples (all but Judas), Matthias,⁵

Paul saw that false apostles, acting on behalf of Satan, were having success at leading members of the Corinthian church astray. He warned the church of the danger of listening to such lies:

But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:3–4)

A few verses later Paul explicitly describes the way Satan’s false teachers get their victims to listen to their lies. They masquerade as angels of light, as God’s messengers:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13–15)

False teachers are effective Satanic agents. Paul feared they would cause the Corinthian church to be “led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. “⁶In particular, he feared they would fall prey to a perversion of truth about Jesus and the simple gospel message that we obtain eternal life by placing our faith in Him, and Him alone, bringing nothing else to the table.

Paul said the false apostles were presenting “another Jesus,” and a “different gospel” than the true Jesus and gospel. Perhaps they were teaching that salvation required works in addition to faith, or that Jesus was a good teacher but not the Son of God. The specific nature of their lies is unimportant; any deviation from the simple gospel is Satanic.

Congregations who follow false teachers become agents for Satan’s kingdom. They may evangelize and build membership but if the new converts are following another Jesus, they are lost. This is what Paul feared, that the Corinthian church would turn from God.

Satan lies to the lost as well as the saved. Though Paul’s warning against being led astray by false apostles was to the church, Satan also uses false teachers to keep the lost from coming to faith. Without question the majority of churches in America are led by false teachers.

Satan’s use of false teachers is one way he deceives mankind. Temptation is another. One of Scriptures’ names for Satan is the “tempter.⁷ He tempted Jesus in the desert ⁸ and he tempts us. Temptation may be defined as an enticement to sin. Whether that enticement comes from our own heart or from Satan, it’s based on a lie.

When we sin, we are thinking or acting contrary to God’s moral law. Temptation is based on the lie that the pleasure, reward, or other supposed benefit we get from the sin is superior to the benefits we get from following God’s law. Experience shows that’s never the case. Our ultimate good is always found by following God’s way, not turning from it.

Satan uses lies to advance his kingdom in countless other ways as well. Since he is the ruler of this world, his entire worldly kingdom is built on a foundation of lies. The subjects of his kingdom, the lost, readily accept his lies and reject God. The subjects of God’s kingdom, the saved, are often led astray, losing both their fellowship with God and their effectiveness as His helpers.

Though we’ll look at other methods Satan uses, from a practical standpoint none is more important to understand and accept than the fact that he is a liar. To protect ourselves from being fooled we need to test all that the world promotes and calls good against Scripture. Otherwise we, like the lost, will fall victim to his lies.